Dictionary of Literary Biography on Thornton (Niven) Wilder

Thornton Wilder, the only writer to receive Pulitzer Prizes for both plays and a novel, once observed, "I guess I was the only writer of my generation who didn't 'go to Paris!'" For him the road abroad led to Rome, which he first visited in the summer of 1920, after graduating from Yale, as a resident visitor at the American Academy. The influence of Greco-Roman culture and his Italian friendships is apparent in his novels The Cabala (1926), The Woman of Andros (1930), and The Ides of March (1948).

Wilder did visit Paris several times during the twenties, however, beginning in the spring of 1921 when he wished to brush up on his French before returning to teach at Lawrenceville Academy. On another trip in 1926, Sylvia Beach introduced him to Ernest Hemingway, with whom he became friendly. But none of these brief visits affected his work. He did not become a part...